Year of the Rat
by code-wyze
Summary: Not a songfic, but still inspired by one. When Shinji sees a certain music video at Kensuke's house, he makes an important decision: it's time to fight fire with water!


Shinji was walking home quietly, feet shuffling, mind blazing, eyes and face cast

downward, and mouth hardened. It was the classic "walk and think" pose, and the boy of 15 was effecting it perfectly.

As per his wont, he was scrutinizing his own actions, both old and new. Had he truly made the right choice in deciding to pilot? How much harm did he really cause? What if he ever had to look into the eyes of a mother who's babe he had directly killed by his own careless control of his eva?

Relinquishing control of the direction of his thoughts (much as he had done so with his own life), he merely allowed them to play out as they lit upon matters closer to his heart. Thoughts, in a truly concentrated form, floated through his mind in substance of

emotion, completely devoid of words. Instead, he saw a phantom red in his mind's eye, or

instead a gentle perfume, completely indescribable, but purely unique. He'd heard somewhere that smell was the sense strongest tied to memory, and he knew that every time he smelled _that_ scent, he would think of... _her_.

He couldn't help but admire her. She had handled just as much pain, if not more,

than he had in his life, but she hadn't run. She hadn't played the part of the spineless

baka, resisting a solid form, and instead spilling out like water from a tipped child's

drinking cup. No... where he had flowed in his life, she had erected walls, she had made

something new of herself. She was truly an opposite to him, though they both were of the

same coin of a troubled past... if he was water, then she was truly fire. It matched her...

She... the red one... Asuka.

"Shinji!"

Startled from his thoughts, his head shot up, and he attempted to pinpoint the

source of the interruption. After a few moments, his eyes lit upon a one Kensuke Aida,

computer and military geek extraordinaire.

With a slightly winded complexion, and a touch of flushing, his friend and fellow

stooge had managed to mirror Shinji's steps.

"Whatcha doin', Shinji?"

"I had to do cleanup duty with Hikari, so I'm just walking home alone. Why aren't

you home already? Touji was still helping Hikari when she told me I could go."

Kensuke gave a smirk before replying, "Yeah, he's still there. He'll be there 'til

the class rep herself leaves- he's really got it bad for her, doesn't matter how much he

tries to deny it. Anyway, I lost track of time with an awesome wireless connection from the rooftop of the school, playing some classic CS 1.5. Y'know, fraggin' noobs, humiliating admins, the like."

"Oh. That's cool." Shinji himself had played the game for a while at his friend's request, but had lost interest in it after a while. It reminded him too much of the real

pain he caused to so many individuals...

"Hey, you wanna come to my house for a while? I've got nothing better to do, we

could hang out for a while."

Without even entertaining the idea, Shinji knew what his answer would be. After all, water always takes the shape of the container it's placed in. Besides, by some divine play of fate or intervention, it was one of Misato's nights to cook, so his prolonged absence gave him a chance to not only avoid the would-be monstrosity, but to grab a ramen bowl on the way home without eating an early dinner as well.

"Sure."

"Welcome, my friend," Kensuke introduced with much flair and waving of arms, "to Chez Aida!" Mentally rolling his eyes, but smirking to humor his friend, Shinji stepped through the threshold as Kensuke turned to remove his key from the lock.

"Here, have a seat. I'll be right back, do you want something to drink?" Shinji

murmured a "no thanks", and shook his head, before flopping down on the Western-style couch. His friend returned a moment later, sipping some obscure carbonated beverage, before sitting at his desk. He unplugged his headphones, before logging into what Shinji deciphered to be "Yahoo! Launch." After a few moments of buffering, Shinji heard what he easily recognized as decade old music, but couldn't name the song itself.

"Hey, man, check it out, I've got FFXII, the second massively multiplayer online

Final Fantasy they released, on the PS4."

Shinji sat back in disinterest, nodding or giving a noncommital "cool" as his friend logged in. Just as Kensuke was about to unleash the wrath of his almighty level 3 white mage on the Canyon Rarab, his phone rang. Kensuke grunted in annoyance, before getting up to answer it. Shinji looked on, and his spirits dropped as he saw Kensuke's do the same. He mumbled something into the phone, before hanging up.

"Shinji, I've got to go. You can stay here and play on my computer if you want, I

know you don't want to go home to Satan just yet. I'll see you at school tomorrow." Shinji, having not said much more than "cool" during his entire stay, just nodded, as his friend threw some clothes into an overnight bag, and bolted out the door.

After taking a few moments to straighten his brain out, he figured it would be

wisest to take shelter at Kensuke's house for half an hour more; by then, Misato would be

done with dinner, and he wouldn't have to eat whatever she attempted to mutilate.

Sitting down at Kensuke's can-strewn desk, he opted to watch music videos until 8:00 rolled around.

After the current one finished, involving some mysterious brunette fleeing some

hidden stalker, the next song came on, and Shinji immediately wondered at the name of it.

[Year of the Rat... that's interesting.] It didn't seem to be anything special at

first; just some animated character reminiscent of Silent Bob of movie lore, and his

animated dog. The music didn't really strike Shinji as that great, but he watched on anyway. What caught his attention, however, was when the "main character" came across a blonde that immediately started yelling at him, though the words themselves were unknown. [He's being yelled at too... just like Asuka and me.] He tried to step to the side, to get past her [he's trying to run away, too], but she blocked off his exits. At one point, she even started spewing flames from her mouth, and Shinji was astounded at how analogous of his own life this was. The man became engulfed in the flames, but did something Shinji had not ever done; he hugged the woman. She became even more angered, as he would have expected Asuka to do. She beat upon him, and did all she could to get him off, but still he held on, and her attacks were ineffective. Finally... she stopped, and fell upon his shoulder, and returned the embrace. The nameless man then walked off, followed by the dog, as she waved at him.

Shinji continued to watch, interested when a large brute of a man began to beat the hero of the video when he hugged him, even going so far as to try to tear into him with his teeth, but failing as well. Finally, he, too, returned the hug. Shinji let the movie finish playing out, still mulling the idea in his head. What if he hugged someone like that, when they were so angry? What if he "held on until they found a new energy?" What if... he didn't run away? from Asuka?

[That settles it! I won't run anymore! She wants to fight with fire, well, then,

I'll fight fire with water!] With his newfound resolve, he closed the player on Kensuke's

computer, and let himself out. [I'm gonna need some practice, though.] Wandering through the streets, Shinji scanned for a potential "victim." Soon enough, his eyes lit upon a child that had fallen on his knees, and apparently scraped them. Shinji crossed the street, mindful of the cars whizzing by, and knelt besides the little boy of no more than 6.

Wordlessly, he lifted the little guy up from the ground, and, still kneeling, pulled the

teary-eyed kid into a hug. The kid sniffled for a moment, then, without hesitation, wrapped his own tiny arms and chubby hands around Shinji's much wider chest. Not speaking a word, he marveled at the contact. The trust the kid put in him, that blind, trusting faith that he meant nothing but good intent, overwhelmed. He didn't know that Shinji had probably been responsible for the death of one of his relatives... but it made Shinji realize that he had also been responsible for his survival. He had, without knowing it, protected this boy. He felt good. For the first time in a long while, Shinji Ikari felt good about his choices. He had protected this boy... like a... like a... [like a father would], he thought with a gulp. Finally, a frantic looking woman came running to the pair, and stopped dead in her tracks.

Her son had run off, being energetic as he always was, and she had failed to notice immediately. When she had finally seen him disappear into the throng of people, she rushed after him. He was all she had left of her family after the angel attacks. His father had been inadvertently killed in the battle with the 3rd angel, during the first activation of Eva unit 01. She knew the pilot had been responsible for the death of her husband, but she couldn't hold it against him. He had saved so many more countless lives, namely herself and her son. Now, she was assured of his safety. She could see his scuffed knees and teary face, but something else amazed her beyond anything she had seen in recent years. She knew who Shinji Ikari was; she knew who piloted the Eva unit that had killed her husband. And that boy- no, that young man was now offering the only thing he could to her- HER _son_. [Oh God,] she thought, [I'm going to cry.] It was so much more than she could ever ask from him.

Tapping him gently on the shoulder, and with tears in her eyes, she mouthed a "thank you" as she lifted her son and placed him on her hip.

[Wow... that felt... really good.] However, his growling stomach interrupted his pensive moment, and he decided it was time to find that ramen stand. Following his nose, he was not disappointed, and he quickly selected a beef ramen, and paid for it, before finding a seat. Blowing carefully on his noodles, he looked around at the other people enjoying a hot bowl with him. However, at one of the corner tables, sat an old man, with thinning white hair, and tattered, dirty clothing. He, too, had a bowl of steaming ramen in front of him, but his hand was shaking horribly as he tried to lift the noodles to his mouth, but failed as they shook free from his weak grasp repeatedly. The man could not lift the bowl to his mouth, either, or his shaking hands would spill the overly hot liquid down his front, and no doubt scald him.

[Perfect,] the boy thought, [victim number two.] Stepping up to the ramen counter, he quickly grabbed a plastic fork and spoon, and sat down to the right of old man. The man eyed him for a moment, before trying and failing once again to eat some of his noodles. The old man sighed in defeat, and Shinji took this as his cue. Lightly holding on to the man's right hand, he placed the white plastic fork in it, before clamping down with his own steady and firm, yet gentle grasp. Spearing a section of noodles, he helped the man to twist the fork, wrapping it in the soft noodles. Then, keeping a steady and guiding grip on the man's arm, helped him to lift the fork to his mouth without dropping any noodles. After that, he set the fork aside, and used the spoon to bring a portion of the broth to the man's mouth, allowing him a chance to lightly blow on it to cool it, the steam wafting away. When Shinji was satisfied that he had allowed it to lose enough heat to not burn the old man's mouth, he helped him guide it once again without spilling any of the spoon's contents. In this fashion, he helped the old guy feed himself, never once holding the spoon or fork directly if it had food on it, but never allowing the man to spill any. When the bowl had been scraped clean, he gave the old man a hug, and slipped a 500 yen note into one of the pockets on the dirty old coat. The man smiled a yellowed smile, missing teeth, but still beautiful in its sincerity, and whispered a quiet "thank you" as Shinji stood up with his bowl of ramen. Miraculously, his white school shirt had not even a smudge on it, though he was sure the old man (obviously homeless) was caked in dirt.

Satisfied that he had spent enough time away for Misato to finish cooking, he ate

his ramen as he walked home, thankfully not spotting any others that looked to be in need of a hug (not that he would have refused them, but he did want to get home soon).

"Where were you all day, you spineless baka?! Misato cooked, because YOU weren't here, and I had to eat that CRAP! It's all your fault! You just fucking ran away again!"

[Dammit... I was hoping she wouldn't start this just yet...] "And Ritsuko called to get Misato back to work, probably so that dyke can hit on her, but she had new synch scores... you baka, I don't know you did it, but you beat me! You have to have cheated, I'm the best Eva pilot! I'm smarter than you, I'm braver than you, I'm better looking than you, you're just a baka, you can't have beaten me! I know you cheated! You probably got together with Wondergirl and plotted with the Commander just so you could rig it! I hate you! I HATE YOU!"

[... and that would have been the flames...]

"... say something you baka!"

"I'm sorry I did better than you, I didn't mean to."

"Shut up! I don't want your sympathy! All you ever say is sorry anyway! And I know you cheated! I've been worrying all day long about the results from that test, and you made it all for nothing! Do you have anything WORTHY to say?"

"... fight fire with water..." he said in a mumble, with his head downcast. His heart was racing, and he knew the moment would be here soon...

"What did you just say, Baka?!" At this, he raised his head, and eyed her for a moment. "S-stop looking at me like that!" He took one slow, deliberate step forward. "W-what are you doing? Don't come near me, you baka!" He took another, ignoring her commands. His heart was racing... this was more of a rush than a fight with an angel. She was only 2 paces away now, and she had started her tirade in front of a wall. "Mein Gott, you're going to try to rape me, aren't you?!" she shrieked again. One more step...

[Hello, victim number three.]

"Don't touch-!" Her sentence was cut short as he wrapped his arms around her, and slid his neck into the crook of her own, above her right shoulder. He found it strangely comforting that they fit together so well. "P-pervert! Don't touch meeee!" And so, the predicted attacks rained upon him. Sadly, he was not invincible, as the hero from the video had been, but he was enduring this for a worthy cause. He felt his air leave him as she punched him in the soft spot under his ribs. When she found that wasn't working, she tried punching him in the back, but couldn't get enough leverage for that. Following that, she tried clawing into his sensitive spots, and even tried to knee him in THAT place. He grunted in pain, and started to feel sick to his stomach, but still held on. All the while, she was screaming "baka!" or "pervert!" Finally, after 5 minutes of "Shinji bashing", she stopped trying to attack him. He had welts on his arms and neck, where she had clawed him, and was feeling sick to his stomach. He also had a feeling he'd be bruised where she had tried to punch him, but none of this mattered.

Asuka breathed heavily for a few more seconds, before collapsing on his shoulder as well, and began bawling, occasionally muttering "gomen" and "sorry." Finally, her sobs ceased, but she continued to hold onto him just as tightly as he held her.

Shinji, for once, knew just what to say, or rather, whisper.

"... and if we just hold on, we can find some new energy..."

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't updated in a looooong time, and I admit, I haven't been doing nearly as much writing as I was hoping to do, but... well, no excuses. I'm still gonna try to write more, and I've got ideas for two new Eva fics, one that's a one-shot, and the other that I plan on making somewhat longer. As for this one, it could be one-shot, it could turn into fluff, it depends. If I feel like I want to get into it more, or I get enough positive response (I really hate to say something like that, I think writers should write what they do for fun, and not force their fans to have to prod them on), then I'll make it longer. Until then, ja ne! Oh, and TBC... whatever the hell that means!


End file.
